A storage garage to consolidate the vehicles and equipment for the Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) in one location is being planned by county EMA Director Tom Capraro and the next step in the project was taken during a Nov. 7 commissioners meeting. The commissioners voted to accept a $16,500 proposal from Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield for planning work on the structure to be built on the county campus.

"Why is it that every time someone writes a story about us, they always have to include the worst mistake we've made in our lives?" asked Brandon, a Hospice Volunteer and prisoner at Maine State Prison (MSP).

Not until I took some lessons in riding and horse handling from Nichole Rackcliff at M & N Ranch in Dedham did I dare undertake a horse rental for my Colorado elk hunt. A patient horse lady, who taught me much in a short period of time, her horse knowledge proved invaluable during an incident that I will relate in a minute.

In recognition of Veterans Day school officials invited American Legion Post 29 of Dover-Foxcroft to conduct a formal exchange of the old flag for a new flag during the mid-morning of Nov. 9 -- the last day of school before the holiday.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agents (MDEA) have arrested a Massachusetts man and seized 250 grams of heroin and cocaine destined to be sold in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. The several month investigation, which involved the undercover purchase of heroin, centered on 38-year-old Don Twiggs of Hyde Park, Mass. who agents suspected of making regular trips to Massachusetts and then transporting significant amounts of heroin back to Maine

The next step was taken in the application process for an Integrated, Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility pilot project as the SAD 46 school board authorized Superintendent Kevin Jordan to submit the Part II application due at the end of the year, during a Nov. 1 meeting at the Ridge View Community School.

On Sunday morning a group of seven Penquis Valley Middle School girls and four coaches, together comprising what they believe is the only “Heart and Sole” team in Piscataquis County, will be traveling to the Pineland YMCA in New Gloucester to join their peers from across the state in taking part in the Girls on the Run--Maine 5K.

The Piscataquis Observer’s Stuart Hedstrom picked up top honors in the sports news writing category among the state’s smaller weekly publications from the Maine Press Association in the 2017 MPA Better Newspaper Contest on Oct. 21

The more I think about it, the more I think we, the nation, need to stop using "free" when describing government programs.

Although Henry David Thoreau’s book about his venture into the Maine north woods is one the well-known books of its genre, “Nine Mile Bridge” by Helen Hamlin has always occupied a special place on my bookshelf. I have read it a number of times.

The boards of directors of Penquis and the Charlotte White Center are pleased to announce that the two organizations have entered into a two-year management agreement under which Penquis Chief Executive Officer Kara Hay and Chief Financial Officer Denice Conary will provide the Charlotte White Center with executive and financial leadership.

For 71 years Rowell’s Garage has been owned by three generations of the Rowell family. In mid-August the dealership was sold by third generation owner Karen Pomeroy to General Manager Scott Moulton, who has been in the position since 2010.

Over the last 16 years more than 2,500 third-grade students from across the region have been given a dictionary thanks to the Valley Grange and the organization’s Words for Thirds Dictionary Project. Dictionaries are being handed out to pupils in four area school districts and on the afternoon of Oct. 26 about 40 students in three classes at Piscataquis Community Elementary School traveled across town to the Grange Hall to receive their dictionaries.

Three pairs of demo lights, of varying degrees, have been installed downtown. After the lights have been up for several weeks, the selectmen are scheduled to meet with representatives from RealTerm Inc. to discuss options moving forward during their next meeting on the evening of Monday, Nov. 13.

Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg is famous for designing machines or systems to perform simple tasks -- such as pouring breakfast cereal into a bowl -- in the most complicated ways. Each year, Goldberg's estate hosts a "Rube Goldberg Machine Contest," and I think Maine's Ranked Choice Voting would make a perfect entry, except there's nothing funny about it.

Carpe Diem Salon on North Street earned top business honors in the annual Dover-Foxcroft Halloween BooNanza decorating contest with a display inspired by the works of Stephen King.

For many Maine moose hunters lucky enough to get drawn, a moose permit is a once-in-a-lifetime affair. Such was the case with my middle-aged friend Greg Goodman, who has been trying for that permit since he was a young man. Knowing that I had had some experience in the moose woods (and perhaps that I owned a big tent and a chainsaw winch), Greg invited me along as his subpermittee.

For more than a decade Valley Grange Bookworms have been coming to Piscataquis Community Elementary School (and previously at the former Guilford Primary School) to share their love of books with second- and third-graders as the pupils spend time reading a book of their choice to the adult visitors.